Death or Victory
by I'm A Teapot
Summary: In 2012, the world went nuclear. Now all that is left is a wasteland populated with outlaws trying to survive, and a too perfect city. The Doctor couldn't stop the blasts, but BL/Ind still think he's a threat. How do they know him? And can he stop them?
1. Chapter 1

**I know right? What happened to the other 13th Doctor and Alice story? You may be asking. You may also be asking WHY THE HELL HAVEN'T YOU UPDATED IT. To which I will answer the variants of excuses. Or you may not give a crap, which is cool too. The only explanation for this is I was Tumblring and the plot bunny bit. It didn't fit into the story I already had going to for your reading pleasure I give you and Alternate Universe version of my other story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or the Killjoys. They would be the property of BBC and My Chemical Romance respectively. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Alice held tightly to the console as the TARDIS hurtled through space, watching the Doctor dance around the controls as if the turbulence was nothing. By now Alice was used to this sort of behaviour from him, and assumed that it came from over a thousand years of TARDIS flying experience. Still, she found it slightly annoying that he could prance around like it was smooth sailing while she had to cling unceremoniously to whatever was closest. The Doctor moved towards her and reached over her shoulder grinning at her as he flicked a switch in front of her. Immediately, the TARDIS began to slow and Alice allowed her grip on the console to loosen as the TARDIS rumbled to a halt.<p>

"Alright?" he asked, still standing behind her.

Straightening up, Alice turned around and poked her tongue out at him. "Well, where are we then?" she asked, raising a hand to move her dark hair out of her face.

"Wherever we need to be."

At this, Alice rolled her eyes. In the months she had known the Doctor she had noticed that where he said he was taking her, and where they actually ended up, were often very different places. And it never seemed to matter where or when they ended up, there was always some sort of crisis or mystery that only the Doctor could solve. Eventually Alice had worked out that while the Doctor knew how to _fly_ the TARDIS, he had very little idea of how to _control_ the TARDIS and the time machine just did her own thing. Which always guaranteed an adventure.

"Alright then, smartguy," she said, shoving him playfully. "Where is it we need to be?"

Winking at her, the Doctor moved off to her right towards the scanner. Alice followed, curious as to what she would see. She had learned from experience that when the Doctor didn't know where they were, it was best to make sure that the surrounding area wasn't swampland _before_ stepping out of the TARDIS.

"California 2019," he said thoughtfully. Alice still had not learned how to read the squiggly lines that told the Doctor where they were. But she supposed it was a Time Lord thing. "Oh no, we can't go out there," he said, slightly disappointed.

"What? Why not?" Alice asked, pulling the scanner towards her and twisting one of the knobs so that the screen was split between the Doctor's squiggly lines and whatever was going on outside the TARDIS. All she saw was desert. A barren wasteland. Alice had never been to California but she hardly thought it was supposed to look like that. Especially so soon into her future.

"The fires of 2012," he recounted sadly. Alice sharply turned to face him. 2012? That couldn't be right. He had picked her up in 2012.

"What are you talking about?"

"Nuclear war, Alice," the Doctor explained. The look on his face was dark, like he was angry with himself. "It burned up the o-zone layer, making earth completely uninhabitable. There's nothing to protect you from the sun now. Not to mention radio-active fallout poisoning whatever is left. Especially here..." he trailed off, re-examining his squiggly lines.

Alice was silent. Who knew how long it had been since she'd left that her world had ended? Everything and everyone she'd ever known gone. The girl felt tears prick in her eyes and forced herself not to let them fall. "I'd be 28 now..."

"No," he said. Too sharply. "You'd be dead now." He said it with such certainty that Alice stepped back. His face had darkened even more, and his hand that gripped the scanner was white, he was holding so tight. "If I took you home, you'd be dead."

Reaching out a hand, Alice touched the console to steady herself. Dead? Well, in the back of her mind she had assumed that the end of the world would mean her death. But to have it layed out so blatantly before her had her mind spinning. Why pick her up at all then? Why come to 2012 just to pick up a stray human and let her world die? Why not stop it? She was about to voice these questions when something caught her eye on the scanner. Whatever camera the TARDIS has – Alice had yet to find it – had been swivelling and caught sight of something before swivelling back around. Stepping forward, Alice wrenched the scanner out of the Doctor's hand and fiddle with the knobs until the picture filled the entire screen.

"Alice, what - ?"

"Shhh," she said, waving a hand impatiently at him as she waited for the camera to swivel back around. Her fingers drummed against the side of the scanner and her jaw tightened anxiously. Already her tears were forgotten because the TARDIS had spotted something that after that revelation, Alice really needed. Hope.

"There it is!" she said loudly, making the Doctor jump. Frowning he pulled the scanner towards him and adjusted the scanner so the camera would stay still and zoom in.

"Alice, it's just a building," he said cautiously, not wanting her to get her hopes up. So far everything the scanner had given him had looked bleak for the human race. Granted he couldn't tell now that Alice was trying to view nothing but video.

"No," she growled, twisting a knob so the camera turned to the right slightly before continuing to zoom in. "God, Doctor for a genius you really are dense." As the camera zoomed in, Alice pointed triumphantly at the image of a little girl standing in front of what appeared to be a mailbox.

"Oh my... impossible," the Doctor said, running a hand through his red hair before adjusting the scanner once more to get a better look at the readings. "I... it seems there is some sort of O-Zone layer left over this part of the world," he said, clearly confused. "But barely, and the radiation levels are..." he trailed off as he turned to look at Alice but found her gone, the TARDIS door hanging open. "Alice!"

There were still people. It was all Alice could think about. The Doctor had been wrong. The world had only slightly ended. Her feet kicked up dust as she ran hard towards the little girl. She didn't know why, but she had to talk to her. Maybe she just wanted to make sure she was real.

"Alice!" she heard the Doctor call. He sounded close. Slowing her pace, she turned around to see he had caught up with her. Christ that man could run. "Alice, we can't stay here it's dangerous."

"There're survivors!" she argued, gesturing in the direction of the girl and continuing towards her.

"Yes, I realise that," he said, frustrated. "But don't you understand what kind of people they would have to be to survive an environment like this?"

Alice turned away from him and quickened her pace. "I don't care," she lied. In fact she did care, and wasn't in the mood to die today. But she just wanted to know that there were survivors. Just wanted to talk to someone human. And it was just a little girl, how dangerous could she be.

"Alice." He was pleading with her now and the tone of his voice made her want to stop. But she was already so close. There was no point in turning back now.

"I just want to talk," she said firmly.

By now they were close enough for the girl to hear them and she spun around, curls flying as she did so. Alice immediately stopped in her tracks, for once heeding the Doctor's warnings from behind her. The girl's face was covered in dirt and dust, and her eyes... her eyes were so jaded. Alice watched as the little girl's hand reached slowly for what looked like a gun at her hip. She slowly stepped back, hands raised in surrender, her most pleasant, harmless smile on her face. To her surprise, the girl returned her smile and moved her hand away from her gun. Alice wouldn't have thought those eyes could smile like that. So joyfully.

"You're dressed funny," the girl said, stepping towards them and examining Alice's clothes. Alice didn't think so, just jeans, a tshirt and converse sneakers. But she supposed that compared to what the girl was wearing - a weather proof vest, and strong shoes along with a strange blouse and sturdy jeans - it was strange. The little girl giggled as she moved to the Doctor who was watching her suspiciously. His well cared for suit must have looked horribly out of place for her.

"Who are you?" the girl asked finally, still smiling but eyes cautious. "You haven't got guns, or proper clothes. You're different." This last was directed at the Doctor.

"I'm Alice and this is the Doctor," Alice said, gesturing to herself and her friend. The girl gave her a confused look.

"Alice is a funny name," she said. "I like it."

Alice really had no idea what to say to this, considering she would have thought 'the Doctor' was a much stranger name than Alice, and so she just smiled and lowered her hands hopefully. The little girl made no move to try and shoot her so Alice took this as a good sign.

"We really should leave," the Doctor muttered.

"I thought we were where we 'need to be'?" Alice countered under her breath. She saw the Doctor try and formulate an argument and smirked to herself as he pulled an unimpressed face and fell silent.

"What's your name then, cutie?" Alice asked, kneeling down so she was level with the girl.

The girl giggled and opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by the sound of tires skidding in the dust. Her smile brightened as she looked past Alice and at whatever was behind her. Both Alice and the Doctor turned at the same time to see a car. The last thing Alice had been expecting was a car. But more importantly a car full of people. The driver – a man with bright, red hair, like he'd dyed it – stepped out, and pointed an odd looking gun at Alice and the Doctor, glaring at them suspiciously.

"Sunny, get in the car," he ordered, his eyes never leaving the two strangers.

Pushing past Alice with an audible sigh, the girl walked over to her father and tugged on his sleeve. "Daddy they need our help."

"No we don't," the Doctor said at the same time the other man said "No they don't."

"But Daddy," the girl said firmly, trying again to pull his gun arm down so it was no longer pointed at them. "They do."

"Sunshine," he growled warningly. "The sun is going down and there are Dracs on our tail. We don't have time for this so get in the goddamn car."

Alice blinked in surprise. She hadn't even noticed, but now that she thought about it, it had gotten considerably darker. And much, much colder. The distant sound of a motor drew closer and another car appeared. Judging by the man's face, the newcomer's were not friends. Instead of heading straight for them though, the car stopped, just outside the TARDIS and a group of masked men stepped out to examine the blue box.

"No not the TARDIS," the Doctor groaned as one of the men appeared to talk on a radio. Alice could already see where this was going. Any second now the TARDIS was going to be stolen – again – and they were going to end up stranded in this lifeless place. Or shot in the head. Either way, Alice was beginning to wish she had listened to the Doctor. Not that she would say that out loud.

"Daddy," Sunshine said, matching his dark tone. The man glanced down at her and held her gaze for a long while before swearing under his breath. "Fine. You two." His attention was now directed back at Alice and the Doctor. "Get in the car and be quick about it."

They hesitated. "You can get in the car, or I can leave you for the Dracs. Your choice."

Alice had no idea what Dracs were but she figured she wouldn't want them to get anywhere near her so she began moving towards the car. She looked back, realising the Doctor hadn't moved at all. "We'll save the TARDIS later," she promised. "Right now we need to just survive."

Grumbling, the Doctor begrudgingly agreed and moved towards the car while the red headed man barked orders at everyone.

"Sunny, on your uncles lap," he said, and the little girl, no longer glaring at her father, giggled with delight and climbed onto the lap of the man sitting in the front seat. "You," he waved his gun at Alice. "You can sit with Fun and you," now waving his gun at the Doctor. "You're next to Jet."

There was a lot of awkward clambering in the small space of the car, but eventually they all found their places. It turned out sitting with Fun, involved also sitting on his lap. He winked at her before digging a gun into her ribs. Alice wanted to mention that it was really unnecessary, but since they clearly didn't want to help them at all she decided to keep her mouth shut.

"I really hate guns," she heard the Doctor mutter as the man called Jet rested his gun on the Doctor's shoulder. No body seemed to take much notice, though Alice did see a small smirk play on Jet's lips.

As the engine roared to life and the car sped down the road, the force of the movement pushed Alice backwards, and her hands gripped Fun's knees to keep herself relatively upright. The lack of seatbelts was not very comforting. She saw Sunshine lean across to whisper in her father's ear as if the speed was nothing. She couldn't see the man's face but the tone of his voice worried her somewhat.

"The Doctor huh?" he asked. "You and I are gonna need to have a little chat."


	2. Chapter 2

They were driven to a small diner in the middle of nowhere and lead, at gunpoint, inside. The drive itself had been in uncomfortable silence. The leader's final statement weighing heavily on both Alice and the Doctor. What did he mean he wanted to have a chat? Alice was feeling remarkably guilty by this point. If she hadn't gone running off – again – they wouldn't be in this situation right now. For all she knew this man might try and kill the Doctor. And regeneration or not, she didn't think she could handle that. The Doctor had been right of course. There were only certain kinds of people who would be able to survive the apocalypse. And they were not nice people. But still, the Doctor had said they were wherever they needed to be. So Alice was holding on to hope that this would not end too badly. A sharp prod in the back reminded her that Fun was still holding a gun to her and she was holding up traffic. He lead her to one of the tables and gestured for her to sit, before sitting opposite her, his hand resting against the table, his gun still pointed right at her.

"Is that really necessary?" she asked, nodding at the gun. "I mean, I'm completely unarmed."

"'Fraid so, babe," he answered with a smirk, his eyes trained on her as the red headed man went about assigning everyone to duties.

"Jet: fire," he said, "Kobra and Fun, watch the girls. You, ginger" he said, grabbing the Doctor by the edge of his jacket, "with me."

Alice watched the man drag her friend away and chewed her lip nervously. She didn't particularly want to be left alone with these strange men. But the little girl – Sunshine – was smiling at her comfortingly so she tried not to be too afraid. She watched with interest as the other men went about doing as they were told. Jet, the curly haired one, set about preparing a fire, while Fun and the other one, who she assumed was Kobra, kept their eyes trained on her. Sunshine, it seemed, did whatever she wanted and had decided to try and help Jet.

"So he's in charge then?" she asked, gesturing in the direction the Doctor and the man had gone.

"Party?" Fun asked, finally giving Alice a name to work with. "Yeah. Well. Technically. Sunny here calls most of the shots."

Alice couldn't help but smile as the little girl grinned up at them before turning seriously back to Jet as he explained how to build a fire properly. "Okay," she said finally, turning back to Fun. "I have to ask. What the hell kind of names are Fun, Kobra, Jet and Party?"

Both men looked at her like she had grown a second head and Alice couldn't figure out what was strange about what she'd said. They were strange names. And Sunshine thought _her_ name was weird. Alice simply raised an eyebrow at them, waiting for them to answer.

"They're aliases," Kobra finally said, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "We buried our real names years ago. Everyone did." And then they were looking at her again, suspicion in their eyes. Silently asking why she didn't know that. How could anyone not know that?

"Wait, back up," Fun said, looking at her now like she'd wounded his pride. "You mean you don't know who we are?"

Alice shrugged and spread her hands in a 'no fucking idea' sort of gesture. "Other than dangerous? I haven't got a clue."

Even Kobra looked a little hurt at this. And then suspicious again. Alice wished she understood more about what was going on so she could stop being looked at like they were debating whether or not to blow her head off. Which they almost certainly were. She glanced down at the gun Fun was still pointing at her and stared at it for a long moment before looking back up at Fun who had appeared to have recovered himself. He stretched his hand towards her and grinned. "Well then, Fun Ghoul, at your service. That over there is Kobra Kid, Jet Star... and our fearless leader is Party Poison."

"Alice," she said, placing her hand in his. Instead of shaking it like she had expected, he leaned forward and brought her hand to his lips. She laughed as she caught Kobra rolling his eyes, and pulled her hand back to rest in her lap. "Should you be flirting with the hostage?"

Fun Ghoul shrugged. "Probably not," he admitted with a wink. "But it's really fucking nice to have a chick around who's not trying to shoot us in the face... ain't that right Koby?"

"Shut up," Kobra growled, shooting a glare in his friends direction before moving off somewhere else to prevent himself from punching Fun in the face. Alice gave Fun a questioning look and the man gleefully launched into the story.

"See, there's these chicks out there," he said gesturing out the window into the expanse of desert. "Smokin' hot and seriously dangerous. Like fucking desert Amazons, but with laser guns. They don't much like other gangs and anyone stepping foot in their zone had damned well better have permission or you can say bye bye to that pretty face." Alice could see that Fun was enjoying telling the story a little too much. "And this one time, the Kid over there he-"

"For fucks sake, Fun!" Kobra said, coming back towards them and smacking Fun Ghoul upside the head. "I said shut up! And why the fuck are you telling her this shit? For all we know she's a Drac, a BL/ind puppet or some shit."

"Ow!" Was all Fun said in return, rubbing the spot on his head where he'd been hit. It was clear what Kobra said had had an effect, though he tried to downplay it as much as possible. "Come on, Koby, she's not a Drac. Dracs are mindless drones. And why the hell would BL/ind send an unarmed spy?"

Kobra hit him again. "So we don't get suspicious. Think about it, Fun, who the hell still has a name like Alice, these days? BL/ind puppets, that's who."

"Well maybe that's not her real name?" Fun countered, glaring at Kobra and rubbing the new place on his head where he'd been hit the second time.

"Um, it is my real name," Alice said, reminding them both that she was still sitting right there. "And I have no idea what you're talking about."

Again suspicious looks. Fun had stopped trying to defend her and had tightened his grip on his gun. Even Jet, who had finished lighting the fire had come over to investigate. Great, what had she said now?

"How can you not know?" Kobra growled. "Everybody knows."

"Everybody knows what?" Alice snapped back, her frustration clear. "Look guys, I'm sure here at the end of the world, you've got valid reasons for not trusting any body. But me? I just got here. So could someone please explain what in the hell is going on!"

All three men looked shocked and confused. Probably from both being yelled at by a hostage and being informed that she had 'just got here,' which Alice was now regretting blurting out. Before any of them could start asking awkward questions, Sunshine moved away from the fire and came to sit next to Alice, looking at the three men expectantly. Immediately they became uncomfortable under her gaze until finally Jet Star cracked.

"BL/ind as in Better Living Industries?" he prompted, trying to see if that sounded more familiar. Alice shook her head, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable as the centre of attention. "BL/ind run this place," he explained bitterly. "They're based in Battery City and from what we've gleaned from various inflitration missions - " he made a strange noise as Kobra elbowed him sharply and gave him a significant look. "I well... whatever, they're into human experiments and all the shit. Not to mention they send out Exterminators and Dracs to 'clean up' the riff raff out here in the zones."

Alice blinked at him. An evil corporation, huh? That did sound like something the Doctor should be looking into. But the evil of humans wasn't really something he could stop. Unless there was alien involvement, apparently he wasn't allowed to do anything. "And Dracs are?"

Kobra made an exasperated sound and moved away to tend the fire or something else far away from the table. Rolling his eyes at him, Fun picked up her question. "Draculoids used to be real people. Citizens of Battery City or zone runners like us. But BL/ind does something to them, makes them like little robots. Can't think for themselves, can only follow their orders... we've had to ghost a few friends who've been Drac'd."

Kobra made another irritated noise and stormed off to find Party. Alice watched him go, her brows knitted together in concern. Oh dear, she didn't think it was a good thing to have some gun toting gang member disliking her. She looked down as something touched her hand and found Sunshine squeezing her hand comfortingly. Alice wondered what it was that made this little girl trust her so much.

Party had dragged the Doctor into what was once the kitchen of the diner, figuring it was the most private room in the diner. Pulling the Doctor roughly into the room and slamming the door behind him, he stared at the strange man for a long moment, trying to sort his thoughts.

"You're the Doctor," he said finally. Not a question.

"Yes?" the Doctor answered, wondering what was going on. "Though possibly not the Doctor you're thinking of?"

Party ignored him, circling the other man with a frown on his face. As if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. "That blue box," he said, remembering what had distracted the Draculoids earlier that evening. "It's yours?"

The Doctor nodded, completely at a loss for what to do. He had no idea what the point of this interrogation was or where it might end up going. And he felt very uncomfortable leaving Alice alone with people who were clearly criminally dangerous. He watched the man pace the kitchen, clearly deep in thought, and folded his arms as he waited.

"Are you working for BL/ind?" he asked and the Doctor gave him a surprised look.

"For who?"

"Better Living Industries," Party clarified. Still the Doctor shook his head. "That's interesting," he said thoughtfully and the Doctor didn't think he liked his tone. "Because they sure know you, Doctor."

The Doctor met Party's gaze evenly, pretending not to be insulted by whatever the other man was insinuating. For a long while it seemed that neither man would back down, until eventually they looked away at the same time. "Do they just?" The Doctor finally said, examining a stain on the wall opposite him.

"Yes," Party said darkly. "We never gleaned much information it was all so vague. But every time we, or someone we know, infiltrate BL/ind, we hear your name. The Doctor. With his blue box. No one's ever found a picture, apparently because you can change your face." The Doctor looked uncomfortable. This _was_ starting to sound like him. "I'm not sure I believe this last bit, but now that I find you in my home, with my daughter singing your praises I have to ask. Friend or Foe? And think carefully, because I will not hesitate to kill you."

The Doctor was thinking carefully. How was it this BL/ind place knew anything about him? He'd never heard of them before now. Was this why the TARDIS had brought them here? The Doctor found himself tugging on his hair in frustration. He hated not knowing what was going on. And he really hated not having the TARDIS around. He glanced up at Party and noticed the other man was looking at him expectantly, if a little impatiently. The Doctor understood. He too would not want a stranger anywhere near the people he cared about, unsure of whether or not they could be trusted. "I don't know anything about this Better Living Industries," he said honestly. "But I'd sure as hell like to. Any chance you can get me in?"

Party visibly relaxed, apparently satisfied with the Doctor's answer. He was about to reply when his younger brother burst into the room looking severely displeased. Kobra immediately through the Doctor a glare before looking pointedly at his brother.

"Give us a minute, Doctor," he said, taking Kobra by the shoulder and leading him to the other side of the room. The Doctor took this to mean he was dismissed and left the brothers to their private talk.

"What are you thinking," Kobra hissed. "Bringing strangers here? What if they sell us out?"

"They're not going to sell us out," he said calmly, confidently. His usual confidence however didn't appear to relax his younger brother this time, who was now looking at him like he'd lost his mind.

"They appeared out of no where, don't understand anything that's happened in the last seven years... that Doctor guy is British for fucks sake! Not to mention BL/ind know all about him. Where did they come from? We don't know anything about them, so why are they here?"

Party Poison sighed, he could see his brother's point. He had been arguing with himself inside his head for the entire drive home. He always found it hard to say no to Sunshine, but usually he drew the line when it might put the rest of his family in danger. But she had seemed so sure. And he was the Doctor. If he didn't know about BL/ind, but the knew about him what did that mean? Was he a danger to them and he didn't even know it? Could he put a stop to the experiments, and the exterminations? But Kobra was right, he never should have brought them here. Not without finding out more about them. "You're right," he said and this was what made Kobra relax. "But they're here now... and they could be useful." He ignore his brother's incredulous look. "Just... keep an eye on them. Make sure they don't wander off, or learn anything they shouldn't."

Kobra snorted. "Tell that to Fun and Jet. That chick's their new best friend. They can't shut up."

"Is it anything important?"

"Well... no... not yet," the younger man admitted.

"Then don't worry about it yet," Party said, a hand on his brother's shoulder as he lead him out of the kitchen, into the main room where the others were. "Just keep an eye on things."

Begrudgingly, Kobra nodded and took a seat by the fire next to his niece. Party wandered over to the table, where Alice was still sitting, now with the Doctor where Sunshine had been earlier. "Ideally we'd make for the city now. But clearly the whether has other ideas," he gestured at the window and Alice realised the wind was picking up a lot of dust. Of course, California was a desert now. Dust storms were ever likely. "So we'll all be stuck in doors for a while. We'll look after you here... hope you like kibble... and as soon as the dust dies down, we'll get you into BL/ind."

As he moved away, Fun and Jet followed him, leaving Alice and the Doctor alone. She looked at him questioningly, wanting to know what it was Party had had talked to him about and why he was suddenly so accommodating. The Doctor explained that BL/ind apparently knew who he was, and how he wanted to know why. And that of course he wanted to rescue the TARDIS and that all involved breaking into the BL/ind headquarters.

Nodding, Alice sighed. "But first we have to stay here, being scrutinised for every move we make and eating dog food... brilliant."


	3. Chapter 3

It had been three days, and the dust storm still raged outside. It was clear that the men – who Sunshine had informed Alice were known as the Fabulous Killjoys – were getting restless. Alice knew that keeping regular boys cooped up for too long was a bad idea, and was quickly learning that criminally dangerous boys were much worse. Party had begun shooting holes in the kitchen wall out of sheer boredom, Jet seemed the calmest of them all, keeping himself busy by cleaning that, or cooking this. Kobra had moved in stages. First sulking, then throwing cans of food at people, before finally joining his brother in shooting the wall. It was Fun that seemed to be having the most trouble dealing with the confinement, however. Over the last couple of days, Alice had watched the other Killjoys, and particularly Sunshine, take time out of being bored to keep their friend occupied. It appeared that when he was left to his own devices for too long Fun Ghoul began to find new and interesting ways to break things. Coming out of the bathroom, she spotted Fun sitting at one of the tables, examining his gun in a way that Alice was sure he was going to break it... or shoot himself with it. Either scenario would undoubtedly be bad. Moving quickly, the girl sat down opposite him, easing the gun out of his hands.

"I'm sure it'll be over soon," she said kindly. Fun looked up at her, giving her a look that clearly showed she had yet to actually say something comforting. "And then you'll be able to go out and kill something?" She tried.

At this Fun laughed, though he was still agitated, if his incessant tapping was anything to go by. Alice opened her mouth to suggest that, if she were to give him his gun back, he could go and join the brothers in shooting the wall, when Kobra sat down heavily next to Fun. Apparently he'd gotten bored of shooting the wall, though Alice could still hear the sound of laser blasts, so clearly Party was still at it.

"Why has she got your gun?" Kobra growled, lifting his leg onto the table, pulling the edge of his pants up to examine something there.

Alice immediately dropped the gun down onto the table and pulled her hands back, figuring it was better to keep confrontations to a minimum. Though a very large part of her wanted very much to yell at Kobra until he got off his high bloody horse. But she didn't feel like being shot in the face, which she was aware was a very real possibility. As Kobra began to scratch at whatever was on his leg, Alice caught sight of something on his calf. A scar, though it looked like it had a very deliberate shape.

"BR?" she asked before she could stop herself.

It earned her a dark glare that made her sit back in her seat before Kobra stormed off. Alice sighed. One day she'd figure out the right thing to say that wouldn't make that man want to kill her. She glanced at Fun who was suppressing a grin. She raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for him to tell her what ever it was that had him bursting at the scenes.

"Okay, so remember how I was telling you about those chicks? And how Koby there had a wee run in?" Alice didn't remember that last part because Fun had been interrupted the last time he tried to tell this story, but she nodded anyway. "Yeah well, after a series of interesting events she - " Fun stopped as a can of kibble hit the window next to him. The glass didn't shatter, thankfully and the can bounced harmlessly back onto the table.

"Shut your god-damn face," Kobra could be heard growling before he disappeared back into the kitchen. Alice sighed, deciding it was probably better she never heard the end of that story. She stood up, giving Fun one last comforting smile.

"Try not to hurt anything," she said, ruffling his hair before moving over to the fire area where the Doctor was sitting. Fun Ghoul, Jet Star and Sunshine seemed to have taken to her quite well. She could see they still didn't quite trust her – with the exception of Sunshine – and that was understandable. If she'd been forced to live through the apocalypse, she wouldn't trust strangers either. But at least they weren't hostile. Hell, they were actually pretty friendly. Party tended to ignore her for the most part, focusing on hushed conversations with the Doctor. It was only Kobra that seemed to openly dislike her. Or maybe he just preferred to be open with his distrust.

"What are you doing?" she asked the Doctor who had his sonic screw driver out and was closely examining Sunshine's gun.

"There's something wrong here," he muttered, smiling pleasantly at the little girl as he handed her back her gun. "I mean other than little girls carrying guns," he added. "This technology... the lasers... it's only 2019, these shouldn't be here." Alice raised an eyebrow at him. "Something's accelerating their technology. Couple that with the fact that the big evil corporation knows who I am and you get...?"

Of course, he was testing her again. At least this time the answer was blatantly obvious. She really hated it when she got the answer wrong and he looked at her like she was a total idiot. "Alien involvement?"

"Exactly!" he said, and while she heard the pride in his voice his face still held a look of concern. "Which means I need to get involved as soon as possible."

Moving closer to the Doctor, Alice rested her head on his shoulder and stared at the ground in front of her thoughtfully for a long moment before asking, "was their alien involvement in the fires?"

The Doctor froze, and for a long while said nothing. He had so wished aliens had been involved, or anything to allow him to interfere, to stop them from happening. But the fires were a fixed point in time, and without it having been alien... there was nothing he could do. "No."

Alice nodded, knowing that was why he couldn't have done anything, but there was still one thing that bugged her. "Then why pick me up? You said it yourself, you can never take me home. And I can't very well spend forever with you." She knew she would end up leaving him sooner or later. Everyone did. Not that she knew where she would go.

"I had... I had to save _someone_," he said, like he was repeating something he'd heard a long time ago. Alice nodded again, before moving to the other side of the fire, curling up with Sunshine and forcing herself to sleep.

0o0o0o0o

"Thank Fucking God!"

Alice awoke with a start to the sound of jubilant yelling, and had to squint her eyes as bright sunlight shone through the windows. So the sandstorm had abated. Looking around, Alice realised the glee was Fun Ghoul's as he ran outside and shot at nothing in particular. She smiled, relieved that they were no longer cooped up inside. This also meant that they would be able to get to the bottom of whatever was going on, and then move on. Though over the past few days, Alice had grown rather attached to the little girl. Sunshine really suited her name. And she knew it would be sad to say goodbye. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, Alice looked around and realised she had been the only one still asleep. Jet and Sunshine had joined Fun outside in the dust free air, and the Doctor was huddled in a corner with Party and Kobra, probably discussing some sort of plan to get into BL/ind. Alice chose to go outside and join the others, figuring she would be not quite welcome at the discussion table. Closing the door behind her, Alice smiled as Sunshine ran over to her and grabbed her hand, pulling her further into the sunlight. It was ridiculously bright. And ridiculously warm. She couldn't understand how they all put up with wearing such long sleeves and thick jackets until the wind picked up slightly and sand blew painfully across her arm. Ah.

"Um, Alice?"

Alice looked up to see Fun and Jet both drawing their guns and looking at something off in the distance. She followed their gaze and saw a cloud of dust moving towards them, and thought it odd they'd be drawing their guns to fight off another storm. It wasn't until she heard the sound of an engine that she realised it must be somebody coming towards them, and clearly not somebody they wanted to see."Get Party," Fun said, it was an order and normally Alice would have waited until he'd said please, but this seemed important. So instead, she immediately did as she was told.

"Sorry to interrupt the manly conversation you three must be having" she said as she poked her head in the door. All three of them gave her a look that said it had better be important. "But apparently there's something you should see out here."

Reluctantly, the men got out of their seats and made their way outside. By now whoever was coming was much closer and Alice could see it was a woman riding a motorbike. For some reason this surprised her, the only women she had heard of since coming here was the Crash Queens, and they hadn't sounded like the type to visit. Especially not alone. Party and Kobra both raised their guns, though the Doctor simply rolled his eyes. It took no time at all for the woman to skid to a halt in front of them, two guns raised. Though she was clearly out numbered, she didn't seem concerned at all.

"Did ya miss me, sweetie?" she asked, her attention directed at Kobra. He growled in return and Alice raised an eyebrow, wondering what in the hell was going on.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Baby," he said darkly. "This here is Killjoy territory, and we're about as friendly as you."

Alice was officially lost. The term of endearment seemed utterly out of place, given the current situation. It was clear just from looking at the pair that it was not love they felt for each other – or even like for that matter. She felt a chin on her shoulder and recognised Fun Ghoul's voice as he whispered, "Baby Ruthless... it's her name." He gave her a significant look before leaning away again, focusing his attention back on the dangerous female with the motorcycle.

Baby Ruthless? What was that supposed to... ohhhhh... BR... and suddenly everything made sense.

"As a matter of fact, I came here to warn you morons about the impending doom," the woman said, a false pout playing on her lips. "But if you're not gonna play nice, I don't see why I should."

It was clear Kobra didn't give a rat's ass about impending doom and was planning on shooting Miss Ruthless in the face, but Party quickly stopped him, lowering his own gun and cautiously stepping towards the woman. "What doom?"

"See, I knew you wouldn't already know," she said gleefully. "Our girl on the inside says a large group of Dracs will be heading this way. And by large group, I mean a fucking army. And I believe they want him." She pointed to the Doctor with her gun, and Alice swallowed hard.

"What do they want me for?" the Doctor asked, moving over to stand directly in front of Baby Ruthless, completely ignoring her guns or the fact that she looked like she could kill him just by glaring at him hard enough.

"Who knows?" she shrugged. "But they got your fancy box, and now they want you. And they know you're here, cause they saw these clowns make off with you."

Kobra threw his brother a significant look, and Party wisely chose to ignore him. "And you're warning us because? We've never exactly been friendly."

"Because Minx told me to come over here and try to convince you to just give the ginger up so we could avoid this. Failing that, I am to tell you that Minx is lining the girls up for a fight. They have to come through Zone 3 to get to here, so we'll hold as many of them off as we can."

"Why?" Party asked again. He knew it wasn't for any love of them, or the Doctor since they had never met him before.

"Because it's not exactly in our best interests for BL/ind to be running our backyard, is it?" she pointed out. "You we can deal with. We don't intend to be surrounded by Dracs and Exterminators. So just accept our fucking help and deal with the fact that you owe us... again."

Holstering her guns, Baby Ruthless kicked her bike into life and sped off before any of them could say anything else. Frustrated, Kobra fired a shot in her direction anyway, missing by mere inches. "I hate owing them," he whispered to his brother.

"Me too," Party agreed, heading back inside. "But we hardly have a choice, do we? If they don't help, we're all dead."

"Well," Kobra said, following Party through the door, the others behind him. "We wouldn't be in this mess if we hadn't brought them back here in the first place! This is what happens when we trust strangers!"

"I know!"

Everyone stopped moving, the chime of the door as it swung closed the only sound in the room for what felt like an eternity.

"I know," Party said again, calmer this time. "But we can't change what's already happened. We can only deal with what's in front of us." Kobra had his arms folded across his chest, but was now silent. Party closed his eyes and bowed his head as he thought, bright red hair covering most of his face. "We might be outnumbered, but we're smarter and stronger. We've got plenty of guns, we've got shelter and barricades. And most importantly, this is our turf." He glanced up, focusing on Alice and the Doctor. "We can give you guys guns, we can protect you until they're all dead or they give up."

"We don't need guns," the Doctor said firmly. "I'll just give myself up. They can take me in. It'll get me inside, won't it?"

"No," Party's tone clearly stated his word was final. "You'll be going in on our terms, not theirs. If you let them take control, they will kill you. Or they'll kill all of us anyway. We fight. Whether or not you want to."

The Doctor looked as if he wanted to argue, but under Party's steady gaze gave in. Knowing there was no arguing with the man.

"Good," Party said. "Now we don't have a lot of time. They'll be coming soon, and even with the Queens holding some of them off, others will get here pretty quickly." As if to prove him right, the sound of distant car engines could be heard. Cars full of Draculoids. "Every body gear up. This'll be one hell of a fight."


	4. Chapter 4

Each Killjoy prepared for the oncoming fight quickly and deliberately. Bandanna's wrapped around noses and mouths to guard against inhaling dust. Masks on to prevent sand and sun in their eyes and because that was what they did. Making sure ray guns were fully charged. Pointedly ignoring the Doctor as he blathered on about how fighting was unnecessary and killing hundreds of mindless Draculoids wasn't going to help anything at all. Eventually the Doctor silenced himself and sat down at one of the tables, arms crossed in front of him, glaring at the others.  
>The sound of a car stopping suddenly alerted them to the fact that at least one gang of Draculoids had arrived. Though it was clear by he sounds of motors still running that more were on their way.<br>"Show time," Jet said, slamming the visor of his helmet down and leading the way outside.  
>"Stay here," Party said to the three staying behind, as if the instruction hadn't already been given a hundred times. The last to leave, Party locked the door behind him.<br>For a moment nothing happened, the Killjoys simply stood, staring down the Draculoids that were now looking slightly confused. Then one of them got too close to Kobra Kid and was knocked out with a quick jab to the face. And so the battle began. Trying desperately to ignore the sound of more cars pulling up and Dracs piling out, Kobra focused intensely on each individual Drac he was faced with. One was running at him and a shot to the chest stopped it in its tracks.  
>"Mother fuck!" he growled as a laser grazed his left calf. He shot the offending Drac in the stomach before kneeling down to examine the damage. There was a serious burn there that would need to be treated sooner rather than later. But his leg still worked. "You could've at least shot off that fucking scar," he said, glaring at the dead Drac. He didn't have much time to brood though, three more Dracs were heading towards him and he realized they were being slowly surrounded. Either the Queens were full of shit, or there were far too many for them to hold back. Kobra made a small sound of surprise as a Drac leapt onto his back, arms wrapped around his neck, trying to bring him down. After a few moments of struggling to breathe, Kobra flipped the Drac over his head and onto its back, shooting it in the face before it had even hit the ground. He swung out; striking another Drac in the throat and knocking it down before it could get a hold of him. Glancing around, he realized they'd all been separated from each other. Each one surrounded by a much larger group of Dracs. With a low growl, Kobra silently cursed that damned Doctor. He tried not to think too harshly on his older brother though. He knew Party had only done what he thought was right. Despite it being a royal cock up. Besides, if they were going to die here, which was looking increasingly likely, Kobra didn't want his final thoughts of his brother to be ones of anger.<p>

"Alright over there, Koby?"

Kobra was pulled by his musings to see a grinning Fun Ghoul, who had just shot a Drac about to take Kobra by surprise. He raised a hand in thanks to his friend before refocusing his attentions back to the oncoming Dracs as Fun pulled his mask back down and also rejoined the fray.

Fun was having much too good of a time. With every Drac dropped he would let out a triumphant laugh, before turning to the next one. Small and quick, it was very difficult for any of his opponents to actually hit him. Lasers – when the hit – merely grazed him, and they were easy to ignore. Punches were easy to dodge, and kicks even more so. Fun laughed again, noticing the ring of dead Dracs beginning to surround him. Apparently he was doing good. One came at him with a punch but Fun side stepped, grabbed the arm, snapping it in half and pushing the Drac to the ground. He quickly shot it dead to make sure it wouldn't be a problem later and managed to duck down in time to avoid a Drac swinging a large stick. Where in the hell had he gotten that from? The Drac swung again and Fun raised his arm instinctively to deflect the blow. Pain shot up his arm and he cried out, fairly certain it was now broken. Nonetheless, Fun got to his feet and glared at the Drac, arm pressed to his chest. He wouldn't be going down so easily. Another swing, but this time Fun caught it with his good hand. Jerking the stick towards him, the Drac stumbled and bowed as he tried to regain his balance. Tugging again, Fun brought his knee up to connect with the Dracs face. Even under the mask, Fun could see he'd done some damage as the Drac let go of the stick and stumbled backwards. There was already blood dripping out from the bottom of the mask and the Drac wasn't moving. With grim determination, Fun brought the butt of the stick down on to the nose of the Drac, sending sharp shards of bone directly into whatever was left of his brain. Dead.

He gave the stick a couple of experimental swings. It felt good in his hands. Grinning dangerously beneath his mask, Fun swung the stick in a wide arc, knocking down a number of Dracs who had been attempting to get near him, with them on the ground it only took seconds to kill them all with his ray gun.

"Fucking awesome!" he crowed, swinging his stick again in victory. An effective weapon, he decided. And fun to use too.

A Drac raised it's gun at him, but before it could fire, Fun stepped forward and whacked it over the head with the stick. It crumpled to the ground but Fun continued to beat it until he was satisfied it was dead, or at least unconscious for a very long time. As he swung the stick back into a fighting stance he felt someone catch it from behind him. He spun, ready to shoot the Drac responsible but instead found himself looking at Jet Star. Or at least Jet's helmet.

"Watch where you're swinging that thing!" Jet said good naturedly.

"Sorry, bro," Fun said, saluting Jet and dashing off to whack some more Dracs over the head.

Shaking his head with a chuckle, Jet spun around and shot an oncoming Drac in the throat. He was not enjoying this fight. Not because he didn't enjoy killing the odd Drac now and then. It was the why of the fight he had a problem with.

He kicked a Drac between the legs and knocked it over the head with the butt of his gun.

The Doctor and Alice were nice enough people and Jet had come to the conclusion that they could probably be trusted. Probably. But risking their lives for them? He would follow any order given to him by Party but still, he was having trouble making sense of this one. They barely knew these people, and while it was clear Party had some kind of plan he hadn't yet shared with the rest of them, and this plan probably involved the Doctor. Was it an important enough plan to risk them all getting killed? Would the plan even be worth it if there was no one left to carry it out?

Jet cried out suddenly as a laser caught him in the shoulder. He lifted his visor briefly, just long enough to see how bad the damage was. A full hit, but it had missed anything important thankfully. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Jet flicked his visor closed once more and returned to the slaughter of Dracs. Although perhaps slaughter wasn't the right word for it. There were certainly a lot of dead bodies piling up. And so far none of them was a Killjoy. But there was still the never ending stream of Dracs. For every one he shot or beat, another two would take it's place. He couldn't help but be a little worried about the Crash Queens. Either they had lied and weren't doing a thing to help or they were suffering as badly as they were. If not worse. Jet shook his head. No time to think on that now. There were Dracs to kill. One came running at him, and Jet lifted his leg, booting it in the chest before shooting it down. Out of the corners of his eyes he saw a Drac on either side of him, both lifting ray guns pointed in his general direction. Jet waited a split second before dropping to the ground. The lasers flew over his head, past each other and into the opposite Drac. He grunted, pushing himself back to his feet, pain flaring in his shoulder as he did so. He took a deep breath through his nose, punching out a Drac to relieve some frustration, before narrowing his eyes in anger.

Up until this point he had seen Party handle himself his usual way in a fight. Very fucking well. The man hardly ever took a hit, and when he did, he ignored them. They were usually glancing blows, easy to ignore, easy to continue. It was however very difficult to ignore a fucking Drac on top of you, one hand wrapped around your throat, the other reaching for either it's gun or a rock to smash your brains out with. Shooting a nearby Drac in the head, Jet ran over to where Party and the Drac struggled on the ground, and with a cry of rage, booted the Drac in the face, sending it flying away from Party. He shot it for good measure before reaching out a hand to his friend to help him to his feet.

"Th-thanks," Party coughed, a hand rubbing where his throat hurt, the other grasping Jet's as he was hauled to his feet. "I'm not sure how that happened."

Jet shrugged and clapped Party on the back. "Don't let it happen again," he joked. "I'm too busy to save your ass all the time."

Party pulled a face at Jet's receding form and coughed a couple of times until his throat stopped feeling like it was on fire. To be honest he had no real idea of what he was doing. His plan for the Doctor and BL/Ind was based on flimsy information. So BL/Ind knew who he was? And he claimed to know nothing of them? Why would that mean anything? Why would that mean he should entrust his life and the lives of his gang – his family – to this mysterious man, who looked barely into his twenties?

Party spun, slamming his elbow into the gut of a Drac behind him, then bringing his elbow up to meet it's face. It stumbled backwards, dropping its weapon as it hit the ground. He shot it dead with barely a blink and glanced around. The Drac numbers were finally beginning to thin. BL/Ind were either running out of mindless drones to send out, or maybe the Queens were finally making some headway. Either way, it would all be over soon. Probably. Hopefully. He heard a footstep behind him and spun around, shooting as he went. The Drac went down. It was so fucking difficult to keep track of them. Their numbers may have been dwindling, but they were still everywhere. The Killjoys were surrounded. Looking around again, he watched Kobra struggling with two Dracs and another sneaking up behind him. Narrowing his eyes, Party raised his gun and shot the third Drac in the head. The other two Dracs paused in surprise, allowing Kobra to take them out. Party turned his attention briefly to the Diner where Alice, the Doctor and Sunshine were sitting. So far the Dracs hadn't thought to try and break in which was probably a good thing. As Sunshine was the only one in their armed/allowed to use a weapon, the defense in there probably wasn't entirely up to scratch. He spotted Sunshine sitting on one of the tables, peering out the window at him, worriedly. He smiled at her, giving her a small wave to let her know that he was absolutely fine.

And then suddenly he wasn't.

He glanced down in surprise, seeing a rather large hole in his side. For a moment he stared down at it in confusion, before dropping to his knees as the pain overcame him. A laser flew over his head, killing the offending Drac as Kobra ran over to him, concern and anger etched on his face.

Party was fairly certain the wound wasn't fatal. Probably. It hurt like fuck, but judging by it's position, most likely missed all the important bits.

"_Daddy!_"

"Sunshine no!" Alice and the Doctor cried simultaneously as the little girl shot the lock off of the diner door and ran into the middle of the battle in an attempt to help her father. She shot a Drac down as she ran towards him, but more were in coming. Party and Kobra both looked up in horror to see her no longer running towards them, but surrounded by Dracs. Apparently another load had finally made it through Zone 3. They were all surrounded. Again.

Seeing that none of the Killjoys would be able to make it to Sunshine in time, Alice immediately moved towards the door. She was stopped however, by a hand on her shoulder.

"Alice, it's dangerous."

"Exactly," she said, turning to face him. "She's just a little girl."

The Doctor looked at her and sighed. She was right of course. Criminal little girl or no, she was still just a little girl who needed help.

"Alright," he said. "Let's go."

With all the movement outside, the dust in the air was thick, and Alice and the Doctor had to squint to keep it from getting in their eyes. They covered there mouths with there arms in a futile attempt to breath non-dusty air.

"Sunshine!" Alice called, panicked. The girl had her gun raised, pointed forward and she was slowly turning in a circle, trying to keep an eye on all of the Dracs at once. She looked past one of them, staring wide eyed at Alice. The Dracs suddenly turned around, focusing their attention on Alice. Alice stopped suddenly and took a small step back. She had not thought this through. She was unarmed, and the Doctor only had a screwdriver which she really didn't think was going to be useful in this situation.

She glanced over at the Doctor who was clearly thinking frantically. He had not thought this through either. All they had wanted to do was protect a little girl. And they would be no use to her dead.

Sunshine's wide eyed expression suddenly became grim and determined. Quickly, she shot down three of the Dracs slowly advancing on Alice and the Doctor before one of the ones behind her picked her up by her collar and held onto her.

"No!" A panicked cry from Party who immediately doubled over in pain at the effort.

Alice noted Sunshine's gun had dropped from her hands as she'd been picked up. After a moment's thought she dived for it, skidding along the dusty ground, and lifted the gun, pointing it up at the Drac holding Sunshine. She shot it between the legs and rolled out of the way as it dropped to the ground, releasing Sunshine as it did so.

"Come on, sweetie," Alice said, taking Sunshine by the hand and pulling her towards the Diner. The Doctor was no longer in sight and for a split second Alice panicked. But, as she glanced behind her, she saw he had moved over to where Party and Kobra were. As Kobra handled the Dracs that were bothering them, the Doctor looked into Party's wound. "Back inside, kay? Your dad's gonna be alright. The Doctor's looking after hi-"

Alice's words were cut off by a blinding pain in her back and she stumbled, letting go of Sunshine's hand so she didn't pull her down as she fell. She hit the ground face first and her fingers curled into the ground below her as she tried to fight off the pain.

"Alice!" Sunshine shrieked, dropping to her knees beside the older woman. It didn't take long for the girl to find the cause of Alice's pain. There was a large, gaping laser wound in her back. "Alice, get up," Sunshine pleaded.

Everything sounded so far away to Alice. She vaguely heard Sunshine trying to get her to stand back up. And she tried. She tried to force her body to get back to it's feet but it just wouldn't listen. Somewhere in the background she could still here laser blasts and someone calling her name.

_Alice!_

A familiar voice.

_Alice!_

An angry voice.

_ALICE!_

A very far away voice.

It took her a moment to realize it was the Doctor. And she waited for him to come to her. But he wasn't there. Through her hazy vision she could see Sunshine. And the bright sun light. And men in vampire masks shooting at colorful mean in other odd masks. But she couldn't see the Doctor. Where was he? Why wasn't he saving her?

The burning in her back was slowly spreading to the rest of her body, and it hurt. It hurt so much. As Sunshine shook her, trying to get her to get back up, Alice winced.

And then it stopped hurting.

Well. It didn't. It still hurt, but the pain became dull. It was there, but it wasn't. She felt her breathing slow, and her heart beat grow weak and Alice realized: She was dying. It seemed to be taking a long time. But Alice wasn't entirely sure. It could have been mere seconds for all she knew.

"Run," she managed to whisper to Sunshine. "Please run."

Somewhere in the back of Alice's mind she was okay with this. Okay with dying. She was supposed to be dead anyway, wasn't she? Her world had been destroyed and had become this wasteland. If it hadn't been for the Doctor she would have died anyway.

The Doctor…

But Sunshine needed to live. Sunshine, who was such a beautiful, happy little girl despite everything. She needed to live.

"Please, Sunshine…" her breathing was ragged, and for a moment she could feel every granule of dust beneath her.

And then she felt nothing.


End file.
